Manual Controls
The DiMAGE X60 has no manual controls. The only things the user can determine are which of the four preset white balance modes is in use, exposure compensation, and ISO.
Focus
Auto Focus (6.5)
Two auto focusing modes are available on the DiMAGE X60: spot and wide. Wide auto focus uses five points, which are not displayed, to automatically determine the plane of focus. The spot setting will focus on the center of the composition. Unfortunately the camera does not allow the spot point to be shifted and users must position their subject in the center of the frame. The auto focus emits a choice of two noises when it focuses, indicating focus is achieved, but they are fortunately not loud enough to become an annoyance.
The DiMAGE X60 uses TTL contrast-type auto focus to focus as close as 4 inches from the lens in wide shooting, 20 inches in telephoto shooting, and 2 inches in macro shooting. When the camera is unable to focus, a red circle blinks in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. When the camera locks focus on the subject, the circle changes to white. The DiMAGE X60 is able to focus quickly enough when the user focuses by partly depressing the shutter release, but when the focus is left to its own devices it takes much longer and sometimes finds itself unable to focus at all. There is no autofocus assist light, which is sorely needed. In low light the X60 badly floundered and was unable to find anything to lock onto.
Manual Focus (0.0)
There is no manual focus available on the DiMAGE X60.
Metering (6.5)
The DiMAGE X60’s through-the-lens metering system offers two choices: Multi Segment and Spot. The spot metering mode takes measurements from inside a white circle that is displayed in the center of the frame. There is no way of moving the circle around the frame, so users must center their subject. The DiMAGE X60’s multi-segment metering measures the center and surrounding areas of the composition in 256 places to determine an average overall exposure, resembling matrix metering systems. The multi-segment mode works well under most bright or evenly-lit conditions; however, it does not fare well with backlighting or extreme contrast.
Exposure (6.5)
While the X60 does not offer a selection of exposure modes or manual control over shutter speed or aperture, users can still brighten or darken the exposure using the camera’s exposure compensation function. EV levels can be manually altered by the user in a +/- 2 range in 1/3-stop steps. When adjusting the compensation, a live view is available, so users can immediately see the effects on the exposure.
White Balance (5.0)
In addition to auto white balance, the DiMAGE X60 offers four preset white balance modes, which are indicated by icons and words: Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, and “Fluoresnt,” which appears to have been spelled phonetically so that it could squeeze into the menu. Unfortunately there are no other options, which may leave users with shifted color tones under more extreme lighting conditions. As users scroll through the menu, a live view is provided so users can preview the effect of white balance selections. There is no fully customizable white balance mode, which may prevent users from achieving proper white balance under mixed lighting.
ISO (5.0)
The DiMAGE X60 offers the standard point-and-shoot manual ISO range of 50-400. However, when auto ISO is used, the camera selects ISO from a truncated and very limited 50-160 ISO range. Users shooting in subdued or low light will need to manually select a higher ISO or endure underexposed images. ISO cannot be changed in movie mode or any of the preset settings. For an elaboration on the X60’s ISO vs. noise performance, see the testing sections of the review.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
The DiMAGE X60 offers a shutter speed range of 4 seconds to 1/1000 of a second. The user cannot manually adjustment shutter speed. There are two shutter sound effects that can be selected: one that sounds like a muffled fake camera shutter, and the other that sound like a strange electronic noise that would be more suitable on a spaceship. The camera does not display shutter speed information or record it with images. When shooting with the nine-on-one frame shooting option, the camera locks the shutter speed at 1/15 of a second, and when shooting in the Sport preset shooting mode the camera utilizes fast shutter speeds.
Aperture (0.0)
The DiMAGE X60 offers an aperture that opens up to f/3.3 in wide shooting, closing to f/4.0 in telephoto shooting. There are no controls over aperture, nor does the camera record or store any information about the aperture setting in captured images. When using the Portrait preset, the camera will attempt to open up the lens to reduce the depth of field.
